Mrs Allen, of Dunedin, and her husband, Wayne, have worked together to organise the event for 21 years.
Every year, Mrs Allen has made a fair number of the 1000 pikelets for competitors to eat after the event — all smothered in her husband’s homemade blackcurrant jam.
While she made a significant portion of the total pikelets to be consumed on the day, she said she could not do it without her support crew of about six, who live in the Catlins and the Dunedin area. The helpers made about 26 dozen while Mrs Allen did the rest.
"Calculate that — I usually go by the dozens," she said.
A quick calculation puts Mrs Allen’s contribution at about 700 pikelets. The cooks begin making batches of pikelets from the start of February and freezing them before the big race.
Mrs Allen said she got out her pan "whenever I get a free day or a free couple of hours."
She will pack up the boxes of pikelets tonight and head down to Papatowai tomorrow morning.
Mrs Allen was not sure why pikelets were the go-to snack when the event first began but it was just an "idea that came to mind".
She is sure there will be enough for everyone, with half of them topped with cream and half without, because "not everyone likes cream".
When the Otago Daily Times visited her Dunedin kitchen yesterday, Mrs Allen was worried it could look a bit messy — her latest batch of pikelets was made yesterday morning.
Mr Allen said more than 200 people had entered this year’s Papatowai fun run and walk, up on pre-registrations in previous years.A large number of people usually registered on the day as well.
He said people loved the "ladies’ iconic pikelets" and often returned to the race to get their pikelet fix. After running 15km, they would definitely be hungry. As well as the sweet snack there would also be saveloys to help athletes recover from the race, Mrs Allen said.
